High school confidential

Easy Reader (Manhattan Beach, CA) July 28:

"A golden retriever will show up unexpectedly to sniff your car for contraband. You will be asked to take a drug test if your parents sign off on it. If you are discovered with drugs or alcohol, or if you decide to tell on yourself, you will be offered help from well-trained peer counselors, and a well-informed teacher, and can be steered to outside counselors as well.  Welcome to Mira Costa High School, regarded by members of the treatment community as a model of enlightened action when it comes to addressing drug and alcohol use among young people... The methods of prevention and treatment have been evolving and improving. In the hard sciences, researchers are ferreting out the precise connections between how substances make us feel good and how they can damage our brains and bodies, and are refining drugs that can be used to ease an addict’s withdrawal and recovery.  In the soft sciences, counselors are making increasing headway using cognitive therapy, which is designed to identify and change the dysfunctional thinking and behavior that can pervade an addict’s drugging or drinking. Counselors are involving entire families in the treatment of one member’s abuse, and educators at Mira Costa and at Redondo Union high schools are arming students with increasingly effective weapons against peer pressure to drink and use."
Read More